10 million voting slips for Catalonia independence bid seized

Spanish police working to halt a contentious independence referendum in the northeastern region of Catalonia have seized almost 10 million voting slips at a warehouse in a Barcelona suburb, the Interior Ministry said on Wednesday.

Spain's militarized Civil Guard police raided several regional government departments in Barcelona throughout the morning and arrested 14 Catalonian officials - many of them high-ranking government workers - in line with a judge's order to seize all material related to the referendum deemed unconstitutional by the Spanish courts, reports Efe news.

As part of the operation, the Interior Ministry reported that police searching an industrial warehouse in Bigues i Reills, on the outskirts of Barcelona, found and confiscated 9,894,350 voting slips printed with the words "yes" and "no".

Security operations in Catalonia, an affluent region with a population of 7.5 million, sparked fierce backlash from pro-independence protesters who turned out in their thousands along Barcelona's main thoroughfare Gran Vía where police were raiding the regional government ministry of economy.

Scuffles broke out between demonstrators and officers guarding the ministry building.

The regional executive's number two in that ministry, Josep Maria Jove, was one of those detained in relation to referendum preparations.

Speaking to journalists at the national lower parliamentary chamber earlier, Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy defended the police actions and said Catalonian authorities had been warned not to pursue the referendum.

Catalonia's President Carles Puigdemont, a pro-separatist, later gave a speech accusing the Spanish State of de facto suspending his region's autonomy and creating a state of exception.

Pro-secessionist officials in Catalonia have vowed to go ahead with the controversial poll on October 1.

Spain's right-wing Popular Party government, backed by the Constitutional Court, maintain that the referendum is illegal and cannot go ahead.

--IANS

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